thereviewbooth 's review for:

Royal Blood by Aimée Carter

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Evan entering the Royal life felt fairly realistic for a fictional character. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked Evan’s character, and she was definitely very American. The supporting characters were very well done, and we get at least a little bit of history/background on each. There were only a handful of characters that didn’t have enough background in my opinion. Since this book is slated to be the first of a trilogy, I think the author did a really good job setting up the characters and hopefully, if they’re important enough they’ll get more page time. 

I really liked that none of the main characters (Evan + crew) attempted to become amateur sleuths seemingly overnight. I will say that the murder part of the story was fairly short and seemed to be the springboard for Evan being thrust into the spotlight. The fallout of Evan’s existence and everyone’s opinions of her, why she even exists, and if she’s guilty make up the meat of the book. There are some hard subjects covered in this book; attempted rape, date-rape drugs, and mental health in the form of schizophrenia (not a complete list). The author navigated these sensitive subjects extremely well and I couldn’t help but feel deeply for Evan.

My memory may be fuzzy, but that part isn’t, and I understand exactly what almost happened. What did happen. I pull the blanket tighter around myself and bite the inside of my cheek. I can still feel every blistering kiss, every burning caress, and I desperately wish I could shed my skin like a snake, leaving behind every inch that Jasper touched until I belong to myself again.

The romance aspect in this book was blessedly light and fairly chaste (other than the assault) and I am thankful for it. I don’t mind romance – it just doesn’t need to be in EVERYTHING. I quite honestly wasn’t expecting some of the twists and turns in Evan’s story – nor did I expect those behind it.

I enjoyed this book immensely – it took me by surprise with how much I loved it. I am very much looking forward to seeing where the rest of the trilogy goes from where we see Evan at the end. I would like to thank TBR & Beyond Book Tours for having me as a host and for the chance to enjoy an advanced copy of Royal Blood. Thank you Aimée Carter for writing a fantastically unexpected gem – I can’t wait to read the rest!